2010-2011 Catalog by American University Washington

Page 290 of 2010-2011 Catalog

288 school of public affairs each student prepares a research proposal for the dissertation project it is the responsibility of the student to secure the agreement of a school of public affairs full-time tenured or tenure-track faculty member to serve as the chair of the dissertation committee one of the two other members of the committee may be from outside the school of public affairs each student must publicly defend the research proposal before the dissertation committee and other interested faculty the committee and the spa director of doctoral programs acting for the dean must approve the defense and the research proposal the topic covered by the proposal must be related to ongoing research or publications of the supervising faculty as work on the dissertation project progresses students register for 6â€“12 credit hours of directed study substantive course work may be used as part of this requirement where it contributes directly to the research specialization and is specifically recommended by the dissertation chair upon completion of the research and the written dissertation the candidate submits his or her manuscript to the dissertation committee for review if the committee members approve the manuscript the candidate must complete an oral defense of the dissertation and the general field in which it lies before the committee and other interested faculty the committee determines conclusively at this point whether the dissertation and examination are acceptable the dissertation must consist of high quality original research directly relevant to the studentâ€™s doctoral program a dissertation proposal may be rejected if the topic does not address a major research issue in political science or public administration the research design is inadequate the methodology is inappropriate or because no full-time tenured or tenure-track faculty member in the school of public affairs is academically competent or available to supervise the project if the candidate fails to maintain satisfactory progress toward completion of the dissertation his or her candidacy may be terminated course requirements major field 12 credit hours Â· puad-710 seminar in public administration 3 Â· 9 credit hours in advanced courses in public administration selected in consultation with the department second field 6-12 credit hours Â· 6-12 credit hours in additional advanced courses in public administration selected in consultation with the department research design and methodology 12 credit hours Â· govt-612 conduct of inquiry i 3 Â· govt-613 conduct of inquiry ii 3 Â· 6 additional credit hours in research methods courses from the following govt-614 quantitative research designs 3 govt-615 qualitative research methods 3 govt-704 approaches to political understanding 3 govt-720 seminar in policy analysis advanced quantitative methods 3 jls-604 foundations of knowledge 3 other approved methodology courses electives Â· depending on number of credits taken for the second field up to 6 credit hours chosen in consultation with the department dissertation 12 credit hours Â· puad-799 doctoral dissertation seminar 1-12